Cronicals of a naga
by The Envious Spire
Summary: This contains vore if you don't like vore than don't blam it.
1. Chapter 1

This story does contain vore situations and don't come complainen to me if you're offended by it but read this anyways. It also has boob references.

The mornings were usually beautiful, as was days, in a jungle on Ahohraes, which literally meant "Giant Reptiles" in the older human tongue of this moon. The light shone through the trees above the large cave she called her home, and the smell of newly fallen rain lingered from the night before. If one sat still, you would be able to hear small animals in the distance calling for their friend or mate. Angela surveyed the peaceful landscape, though she took no joy from the wonderful surroundings. "Another day," she said, "Another day of the same boring life." She sighed, then closed her eyes to catch the warmth of the sun. There was a light mist in the air and the water collected on the many bright green leaves that surrounded the entrance to her home. Some mist settled on her face and some dripped down the waterproof scales of her smooth, muscular lower half.  
Angela was a Naga. Basically, she had a human body from the waist up, and the rest was the body of a snake. She was exceptionally large for her species, about two hundred and thirty-two feet from the ground and about seven hundred and twenty five feet in total length. This was due to her healing ability that has been practiced and nearly perfected over the course of twenty seven years. With this ability she has kept her body exceedingly healthy and her skin pure, aside from the battle scars that she kept. She shook her head slightly and water sprayed from her short hair that covered the entire left side of her face and continued around to cover her ear on the opposite side. Her hair was a dark grey color with unusual sky blue highlights at the tips. The blue eye that was visible seemed to glow with the slight sunlight that seeped through the dense jungle. Her soft skin was a pale light brown that showed almost no visible muscles, but don't let this fool you, she has the strength of many tens of normal naga. Years of exercise with her snake body had turned it into a solid mass of unbeatable muscle, which she often used to pin down her prey. She uncoiled her snake half from the cave, showing the solid purple scales ending with a black tipped tail.  
Due to some terrible events thirty-two years ago, she had the soul of a human along with her own. The human was a girl named Maia, about twenty-seven years old at the time of the incident. She had been able to create fire in self defense and had devoted a great deal of her life to healing and taking care of anyone who had come to the village. After Angela had received a dire wound, the villagers sacrificed Maia to ensure the nagas survival, fusing the two souls permanently. Due to this, she has a deep hatred to humans for betraying her, which shows in Angela's personality and affects her view on objects and creatures immensely. Maia was driven mad from the betrayal, which in turn sent Angela down the same path, and sometimes was able to take control of Angela and burn anything in her path, which left Angela with a fear of fire. Although through almost thirteen years of training her mind and body, she was able to suppress any emotions instantly and take control of herself, though some thoughts still stayed for a while. Unfortunately for Angela, her human side was also very shy about showing any part of her body to humans. So if you're human and she is talking to you and blushes or secretly tries to hide herself, then she has already made up her mind not to eat you yet. But if she is hiding herself and you make a comment on any part of her body that is too specific, like, "Nice boobs" or such, then she will think that you had already seen them and will embarrassingly eat you to keep you quiet. But a comment along the lines of "You're very pretty" or even "I think you look great", no matter how filled with fear you are when you say it, will make her blush or whimper, ultimately causing her to run away. Again, these only take affect if she is already embarrassed to be seen by you.  
Angela was still while she remembering her past, as she did every morning. As she faced into the jungle, her stomach gave a mean groan, so she put her hand on her belly and started to slither away. She would have to find food quickly because her healing ability, which she continuously uses while she sleeps and through most of the day, burns up a lot of energy. She was not a picky eater and ate just about any creature she could swallow whole, as is the usual nature of a snake. She moved past the large trees, her eyes lazily scanning the ground and branches for any sign of an animal, however small, to get her awake and alert enough to hunt properly. Angela didn't bother to try and camouflage herself, or use cover to hide from her prey, as most other nagas do. Her preferred method of hunting was to move around until prey is sighted, and then use the energy that was saved during the trip to jolt in front and overpower them, but she is not really a dominating person, and will not harm or put unreasonable pressure on them. Some respected her for this method (as it is difficult to use and yields very little food sometimes), others though it was silly to hunt this way. Though some feared her terribly for this, because even with this method, she goes home every day with a usually overstuffed belly.  
Only a few minutes later, she felt a small nudging on her scales, like she had ran over some tiny animal and it disparately tried to chew her off himself. She turned to see what the thing was, and smiled when she saw a neko boy with a machete, angrily chopping at her. Pieces chipped off his weapon with every swing. Nekos were a fairly common sight in this forest, as it had lots of downed trees or old animal burrows for them to build their cities in. Angela usually ignored them though, as she did for humans when she was looking for food. Humans and nekos are too small to her to play a major role in a diet, but if she came across one and they were within reaching distance, she wouldn't pass up such an easy prey. A small chuckle arose from her as she picked up the tiny thing and held him if front of her face. He stabbed at the fingers that held his shirt, which did as much damage to them as it did her scales, and after a few stabs the machete slipped and fell to the forest floor. "No!" he yelled.  
Angela looked at him and put on her nice face, "Tell me where your friends are hiding and I might let you go."  
"What are you talking about!?" He started to try and push her fingers off himself, oblivious to the near two hundred and fifty foot drop he would suffer had he escaped.  
"Well obviously you're showing off for someone because even a neko wouldn't do something so stupid as to show themselves to an obvious predator," she said, her tone implying that he had done a horribly stupid thing. She was kind of annoying that he had rejected her deal and kept quiet, though if he told her, she would keep her word and let him go.  
"I'll never tell yo-" he was put in her mouth before he could finish, her look changed back to her normal overly calm. She would have to find the rest by herself, which she thought was way to much work for such a small treat.  
She swallowed the kicking animal. "What an annoyance," she said then held in a long breath and closed her eyes. Her snake half could sense vibrations in the ground and they came to her mind in a flurry of colorful movements in a blank, black world, with which she could pinpoint what was animal or nature and the exact distance her small friends are at. But their location came, not from the vibrations, but from a small sneeze and a whisper that she might hear them. Angela instantly snapped out of her trance and uprooted a small bush near her. There under it were three neko girls and two other boys, each somewhere over twenty years old. She quickly curled around them and ate them one by one.  
After she was done, she immediately started off again, following the first river in search of another victim. "Stupid nekos. They won't even be enough to keep me going for an hour." Her stomach began to complain again after only forty-five minutes. As she kept moving, Angela started to remember where she was in life thirty-two years ago. She had been a brilliant girl with a love for magic and the art of manipulating the elements. Her kind and understanding attitude towards humans and other creatures alike. The way she was attacked and nearly killed by a naga hunter. The way she burned all those innocent people, their village, and someone very important to her, till there was nothing left but a black field and burned bodies. All of the horrible, horrible things she did. The way she hated humans more then anything else. She quickly regained herself when she felt fire building up in her hands. She was furious with anger on the inside but her straight face showed none of it.  
Her mind cleared completely when she saw a small naga girl between a few trees, drinking from the river she had followed. She was young and only about thirty feet from the ground. Her straight, navy blue hair came down to about half her back. The small build of her body rose and fell slightly as she sucked in the water, and her beautiful grey-blue scales reflected the surrounding trees on their surface. Angela watched for only a few more seconds before she readied her body. Quick as lightning, she had built a wall around the small girl with her coils. The girl jumped up and pressed herself against the part that was behind her. Water flowed from the surprised mouth of the girl when Angela quickly put her hands on the girl's sides. Her hands were each large enough to fit around the girls entire waistline, so she only used her thumbs to gently pin her down.  
"What are you doing!?" the girl shrieked in her innocent voice. Angela got a good look at her now; she had beautiful green eyes which darted from side to side, and a small blue band running across her forehead to keep her hair behind her. Her age was reflected in her figure, she had small breasts and a thin, smooth body that started to tremble when Angela begun to speak.  
Angela loosened her grip and looked very friendly. "Hello there little girl. You're very pretty, what's your name?" Angela said in a very friendly voice. By appearance, she was trying to force a friendship with the girl.  
"My names Kayla," the girl said, calming down just a little bit. When she talked, it was in a small depressed voice. "Thank you for thinking I'm pretty, but if you're wanting to kidnap me, my parents won't pay you anything."  
"Well Kayla, my names Angela," she rubbed the girls shoulders to try and calm her more, "Don't worry, I'm not going to kidnap you. Just, don't freak out when I tell you this."  
"Tell me what?" Kayla said, very confused. No one had ever treated her even this nicely, and though she thought Angela was kind of creepy, she started to trust her.  
"You're going to be my breakfast," Angela said with no concern for her feelings about this. 13 years of living by herself while she was completely insane had destroyed any social skills or reactions to simple conversations that she had had.  
The girl turned very pale and any nice thoughts about Angela were instantly crushed. "W-what!? You're a cannibal? You," her shoulders tightened, "You monster!" She closed her eyes tightly and put her head down, expecting her fragile body to be smashed against the ground or something.  
Angela was not angered at all, she still had the calm face that she always had, "Little girl, I'm not a monster. Now are you going to hold still and let me just stuff ya in, or are you going to give up and get in yourself. Or did you just want to wiggle around and try to escape. Either way is fine with me." She closed her eyes and opened her mouth at the level the girl was at.  
Kayla looked like she was about to shower tears. "Why me?" she said, her words trailing off into a small cry.  
Angela closed her mouth and put her head back up. "I don't pick favorites dear. You just happened to be where I was going. It's no reflection on you, I mean; I will feel bad for taking such a beautiful girl from the world. But it's what has to be done," Angela said before pausing, then lowering her eyelids to only a small slit and moving her head closer to the girl.  
Kayla whined a little bit, and her eyes got wider as Angela got closer. When the mouth started to open, the girl could see her tongue slowly slide out, and small drops of saliva start to collect at the tip. She started to breathe very quickly and whine louder until she screamed, "Wait!"  
Angela immediately closed her mouth and stared down at the girl, still calm as ever, "What is it. Is something wrong?" She felt herself start to drool, but licked it off her lip, scaring the poor girl even more.  
The girls first word was a long, high pitched moan, like she was about to cry. After a second, she tried to pull herself together but said, "I, uh, I . . . I don't know." Then she quickly closed her eyes again. She expected to be beat for speaking up, like her guardians had done to her. "Please don't hurt me," she pleaded, "I - I got away from my parents, I just want to be free!"  
"Shhhhhhhh," Angela whispered as a mother would calm a hurt child. It was a rare moment when Angela had a real concerned expression.  
"No! No! Please don't! I'll do anything! Anything!" She tried to weakly pull Angela's thumbs off her shoulders, her face now filled with tears.  
Angela closed her eyes and opened her mouth fully, with her tongue sticking out to her chin. Drool had built up and now started to drip from the top of her mouth and the tip of her tongue. Kayla struggled frantically to pull off the hands around her ribs, but froze when she looked up. She saw a pink tongue that was slimier than anything she had ever seen, and teeth that looked like they could bite straight through her. Angela's teeth were human-like except for the large fangs she put in a few years ago. But the thing that made the girl start to tremble once more was the back of Angela's mouth. The entrance to her throat looked dark and was just as slimy as her tongue. She knew that once she was close to that, there was no getting out. This point was further enforced when she noticed the scars around Angela's mouth that looked like claws or nails had scratched on her skin while they were being pulled in. She thought of how horrible it must be to be eaten tail first, while you watch the world slowly disappear past the maw of the giant naga, then seeing only the closed mouth and the tongue rearing up to end you. The giant naga's head crept closer at an agonizing pace, and Kayla knew her time was set, and there was no lengthening this time. Her mind raced in thoughts of her life and what could have been done differently while the seconds when by like years.  
She was pulled from all her thoughts and let out a small yell when Angela's warm tongue touched her face, and her body stiffened up when her shoulders and arms were slowly stuffed inside. There was a slimy liquid coating her chest and that would occasionally fall on her head and back from the roof of the mouth. The girl could smell other creatures, then she wondered how many other nagas had been in this same position. She snapped herself back to her situation and she began to struggle. She pushed as hard as she could against the sides and roof of the mouth, but just kept slipping. Her body shivered, she could feel Angela's lips around her stomach and the tongue across where her body connected to the snake half. Kayla looked forward and saw the opening to Angela's throat widen, expecting her, which caused her to scream and try to push backwards on the tongue. Every time she pushed, she slipped, and then put her hand back to try again. She started to cry again when she found no solid parts to help her. Angela had felt this struggling many times and knew that there was no way for her to get out. Every gentle bite Angela took sent Kayla closer to the thing she feared most, but the girl finally just put her hands over her eyes and laid her head down, where it partially sunk into the soft skin of the tongue. The girls body tried to curl around Angela's arm to pull her out, but Angela (without opening her eyes) slowly and expertly moved her hand away, gently pinned the snake part against the ground, and pushed the girl deeper down her throat. When Angela felt that the girl's human part was completely in her mouth, she swallowed. Kayla felt the walls around her suddenly tighten, but she kept her eyes covered even when the walls curved around her body and began to pull her down. Angela moved the snake part of the girls body so that it was straight with her throat and swallowed again. She would have to repeat this process several times.  
Kayla could feel the muscles pulsating around her. She was now fully covered in the slime and started to feel light headed when she suddenly fell a few feet, forcing her to put her hands down and open her eyes. She gasped hard then looked up. To her misfortune, she had always been able to see well in the dark. It was only about two arm lengths long and one high, and there were thick reddish-grey muscles making up the curved walls, but it wasn't how it looked that scared her. Some sounds in there were eerily faint like the sound of Angela's heartbeat and of liquid and organs sloshing around. Though some sounds, like stomach movements, small gurgles, and squishing sounds, echoed through this small room. She was still being fed into it and once she reached the other side, slime seemed to pour from the roof. The girl started to get very cramped in her small space until one of the walls suddenly opened up and she was pushed into the second part of Angela's stomach, which ran almost halfway down her snake body. Angela had swallowed the last bit of her tail and reared up, burped a little, then rested her head on her snake body. The girl felt herself stop being pushed in, so she looked around again. It was the same as the other part, only, the thick muscles formed a sort of dank cave that was far larger and could house another naga of her length. Just like the smaller stomach, slime dripped from the ceiling, coating the girl's backside while she lay on her stomach. She started to take in the situation she was in and begun to panic and breath quickly. She then desperately tried to push on the walls and beat them as hard as she could. "Help! Somebody! Help me!" she screamed, hoping that someone would pass by and save her. Angela felt some pleasure from eating nagas because they didn't just struggle in one spot, they thrashed their whole body to get out. Angela closed her eyes at the feeling of the girl bumping and pushing almost every inch of her large stomach, it made her feel good but sad at the same time. Kayla's body felt tired, and when she realized there was no escape, she put her head in her hands and started to cry again. Angela could faintly hear her through the thick skin. She let out a deep sigh, and then got up. Though her face still showed nothing, she felt terrible, but she was satisfied and ready to do her daily work. Her want to sleep after such a meal was pushed aside, as she had several things to do.  
She knew this entire forest, and she had a schedule to check every part that she liked, to see if there was anything different. First, she stopped at an old ruin that the humans had left there thousands of years ago. It was a large structure in the middle of a clearing in the jungle. The temple was pyramid shaped with one side almost completely covered with stairs. At the top, there was a large room which she often used to store things in. When she stuck her head in, there were maybe twenty neko children inside, sitting in a small group. They gasped when she surprised them, but once they realized it was her they went back to playing their game, though their new nanny fainted when she saw her. They were way too small for Angela, and usually by the time she makes it here, she has already eaten some larger creature. She smiled at them then went back to inspecting her ruins, looking around and sticking her giant hand inside to fix some small things. Then she inspected every inch of the outside to make sure nothing had crumbled. She dusted off some small debris and she felt happy. Doing things like this reminded her of her older days when she would search ruins for any trace of an old elemental artifact.  
She frowned though when she saw a brightly colored harpy with green, yellow, and red stripes, prepared to pounce. A harpy, for those who don't know, is a half bird, half human creature. They are usually very fast, but once her feet left the ground, Angela caught her in one hand. "Ah!" the harpy screamed, "He he, are those your children? Their lovely and I wasn't going to eat any of them. So now that we have that settled can you please let me go and I won't bother you again." She flapped her wings a few times hoping that she had been released, but Angela retained the gentle grip. "Oh. Well in that case, can I go get you something maybe a fish or small animal, hmmmmmmm. Please."  
Angela smiled, "We both know that you wouldn't return if I let you go."  
"Oh no, I will return with anything you ask and I will gladly run another errand for you. Because, if you capture me again later I'll remind you that its me and you won't eat me cause, ha ha, it's me." She smiled and lifted her eyebrows, then waited a minute or so for an answer.  
Angela had closed her eyes and stood very still. There was still wiggling in her stomach. She opened her eyes, picked something off a nearby plant, and said, "I have something you can do for me."  
"Anything," her face lit up and she expected something good for her.  
Angela held up the purple fruit she had picked. "When you get there, feed this to the girl, but I suggest you take a small piece of it for yourself before doing this," she said then handed it to her.  
"Why? What girl? And when I get where?" the harpy stared at the fruit that was as big as her head, then her eyes widened, "You're still going to eat me, aren't you."  
"It's to numb your body. I figured that it will make your trip less painful." She put her head closer to the harpy and the girl shrunk back. "I will know if you don't give it to her, and I will get you out and make your life an unimaginable amount more than the hell it's going to be." The harpy girl gulped then nodded her head quickly. When the girl had a good grip on the thing, Angela put her in her mouth and the harpy girl closed her eyes as she felt herself start to be swallowed, but stop almost at the back of her mouth. Angela had started to slightly suck on and move the harpy around with her tongue.  
Though she thought the warm massage felt pretty good, the harpy girl had to constantly watch the fruit to make sure it didn't smash against anything. "What are you doing!" the girl screamed, reminding Angela of the harpies job. After a few seconds, the girl was lifted and gently flattened against the roof of her mouth and then squeezed into the throat.  
Angela swallowed then put her hand on her belly. "I'm sorry, it's just that I like the taste of bird," she said to herself, then started off to her next destination.  
When the harpy entered the stomach, she was soaked and waist deep in the slime that covered this place. To her amazement, when she felt the wall beside her, it was actually made of scales. Her feathered hand was quickly drawn back when some of the scales simply fell off. She followed this wall, unable to see, until a hand grabbed her and pulled her forward, making her almost lose the fruit.  
"Help me!" Kayla said. Her voice was rough from screaming. The harpy's eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness and she could see light skin with large, dark patches on it. When the harpy girl put her hand on the one holding her, chills flew through her spine as the skin was able to be rubbed off slightly. The naga girl let go and tried to scratch her skin, but pulled a small layer off, exposing the red undercoating. She let out a small scream. "It burns so bad! Please help me!"  
"I can't," the harpy girl said, then took a small portion of the fruit off and held the rest up, "But the giant girl told me to tell you to eat this." And although the fruit was dripping in slime, and Angela had eaten them both, they strangely trusted the giant naga. So they both ate it, and almost immediately after they finished, their body felt numb and weak.  
"Is she going to spit you out now?" Kayla said, feeling relaxed and lightheaded.  
The harpy gave a small humph. "No. I told her I'd do anything for her and this is what she picked."  
"Please don't leave me," Kayla whispered then set her head next to the harpy and weakly hugged her. She had taken in a mouthful of the stomach juices, but didn't try to cough up the foul liquid.  
"Come on, I wont just leave you." The harpy girl looked at her and noticed that her eyes were drooped halfway and she was staring forward. The harpy gave her a little slap on the face, but there was no movement or reactions. She looked at her eyes again and they still had a vacant stare. "Hey." There was no answer. The harpy girl waited a few minutes, then drooped her shoulders and laid her head on the naga. She could only slightly feel the coldness of the skin. The stomach then started to move and squeeze them, dunking her several times in the liquid. Her eyes were shut, as she awaited the same fate as the poor naga.  
Angela had been pushing through the dense jungle on her usual path. The six hours it took to get near the next ruin felt very long to her, and she started to feel hungry again. Her stomach gave some painful complaints until a naga girl bumped into her. The girl put her hand on her head and said, "Oh, I'm very sorry, I just don't pay att-" Angela grabbed her around her chest and hoisted her to her face. The girl recognized her and immediately started to yell and try to thrash herself loose. When she realized it was useless, her body went limp and she started crying. "Angela," she got in, "please don't eat me. I was going to pick up my little brother and he's small. I don't want him to be by himself for very long. Please, don't eat me!" Angela was the top predator in this jungle and if you wanted to live, you would know what she looks like and avoid her if you could. A sad life yes, but Angela has accepted it as hers and lives with the torment of being alone.  
Angela looked at the small, red haired weeping girl. Another meal did indeed sound good. Her mouth began to fill with drool and she licked her lips thoughtfully, but Angela wasn't going to eat her. It made her sad to eat nagas, even though she only ate one once or twice a week, no matter how many she encountered. She didn't like looking into the sad face of them. So if you're a naga and she catches you, then starts talking really sweet to you, you're going to be eaten. Angela swallowed, clearing her mouth. "Calm down, I'm not going to eat you."  
"You're just telling me that so I'll stop struggling!" She tried to pull the hand off her.  
"Really, I'm flattered that you would consider yourself instant prey for me, but I've already had a naga today and I'd prefer to have something different for lunch. You have to remember that I'm not just some mindless monster." The girl loosened her grip on Angela's fingers. Angela smiled and said, "I know that you guys know not to touch my ruins, but the humans and the neko are too stupid to learn that. Have you seen anyone messing with them?"  
The girl was looking down and started to talk slowly, "They have been at the next one for the past few days," she loosened her body, "Now, just eat me quickly and please don't bite."  
Angela let the girl down and released her grip, "I told you, I'm not going to eat you." The girl looked up and watched the giant predator leave.  
"She already ate a naga today. I wish I could thank the one she ate, because they just saved my butt." She got up and left as quickly as she could, just in case the giant changed her mind about her lunch.  
Though, Angela was thinking that she wanted to go back and just stuff the girl in her mouth, but she didn't want to lie to anyone. So, she made up her mind not to eat the girl, today at least. She heard some rustling and quick footsteps, and her stomach groaned happily at what it was. A small carnivorous dinosaur was in the process of chasing a neko. The girl screamed for her life and ran as quickly as she could, but the dino was easily catching up to her. The dino could swallow the girl whole if it had caught her, and she knew this, a fate she feared as much as being ripped apart by a smaller one.  
Angela waited till they got close enough and grabbed them both in different hands. The dino just roared and scratched, so there was no reason to keep it out, and he was quickly shoved in her mouth and swallowed. Angela smiled and closed her eyes in pleasure while the creature kicked and struggled all the way down, then tried even harder when it fell into her stomach. Angela reopened her eyes and looked at the neko.  
The girl closed her eyes and began to cry, making her words soft, "Don't, please, I'm scared."  
Angela took a finger and rubbed the side of the girl's head, "Scared of being eaten, or scared of sharing a room with that dinosaur?"  
"I don't want to be torn up, but please, please don't eat me! I'm scared of both!" she cried. She felt like she was going to wet herself, but held it in the best she could so that the naga wouldn't have a reason to be angry at her.  
"It's okay; I won't eat you, because I don't want you to have to stay with that creature."  
The neko's body relaxed a bit and she cried in relief, "Thank you, thank you so much. There's not even anything I could do to make it up to you with what you're giving me."  
Angela put a finger in the air, "Hey, wait until the predator puts you down to thank them. What if I was just telling you that so you would calm down?"  
The neko's body became tense again, "No, please."  
"I'm not saying that I'm going to eat you, I just want you to make it up to me by learning how to survive. If I catch you again, I will eat you, do you understand?"  
"Yes, yes, I'm sorry."  
"Now," she set the girl down and leaned over so that she rested one hand on the ground and covered her chest with the other, "you may be able to pick up a few survival tips from other intelligent predators out here, but I doubt they'll be as merciful as I am." She thought for a second before saying, "Tell you what, here's a good tip. Make friends with one of the larger predators. If you know one personally, they can protect you from the dinos, and just about every other intelligent hunter that knows who you are friends with will leave you alone."  
"Okay," she looked away nervously, "What about you? Can you please be my friend?"  
Angela smiled and laughed softly, "Sorry girl, but I don't make friends with anything that looks human. I already told you, if I find you again, I will eat you."  
The neko looked worried and started to breath quickly, knowing that the trip back home would be just as dangerous as the walk here, and that if she hadn't been rescued, she would be dead right now. She looked up at Angela's smiling face, "Please! Can you at least take me home!?"  
"If you follow me you'll end up being eaten quicker then if you just stand there."  
"I'm sorry, I just, don't want to be eaten," she started shaking; "I so scared."  
Angela let out a deep sigh, "What's your name?"  
"It's Saria," she closed her eyes and tears fell down her cheeks, "I'm sorry for bothering you."  
"I picked you up, don't ever apologize to a predator if they caught you. Now run Saria," she stood up and waved her hand, still with the other arm over her chest, but now with her snake coils blocking her lower half, "and pray that I never see you again."  
"Okay, thank you for sparing me," she looked down into the dirt while Angela slithered off. She thought about following the naga, but knew the giant meant every word that she said, and she didn't want to be eaten. So, she balled up all the courage she had and took off in the direction of her home.  
Angela felt bad that the neko probably wouldn't make it through the part she was in, but hoped that a nicer predator would pick her up. She forgot about the neko and fixed the way she was going so that she headed to her next temple.  
When Angela got there, sure enough, there were small lights inside the top room. The first man had just finished dusting off a small inscribed tablet when he got up to exit the temple. When he turned around though, he froze right where he stood, as did the other four men that heard his gasp. Angela's giant head was sitting at their only exit. "What are you doing?" the giant head said with a somewhat playful tone that masked the absolute anger and driving need to kill them that she had bottled up.  
The first man spoke up, "We were sent to find anything rare here, we're with a museum and wanted to display some of these things." He braced himself because he knew that her "nice face" was fake.  
"Well do you realize that this is my ruin and-" There was a loud bang and a bullet imbedded itself in Angela's cheek. "OW! You insect!" The bullet was pushed out and the hole closed. The first man turned around with an angry look on his face as a giant hand whizzed past him and grabbed the guy, causing him to loose his weapon. She shoved him in her mouth and stuffed her head back inside the opening. She started to move him around with her tongue, and to the horror of the other men, it looked like she was chewing on him. After a second she spit out his bag and the few stones he had in his pockets and swallowed the rest. "Anyone else wants to try anything!?"  
"I'm sorry that happened," the first man says, "None of us will try anything like that. Just calm down, I would like to go home to my family." He took his bag and put it on the floor next to him. Then, with his hands up, he stood completely still and just stared at her magnificent blue eye. The rest of them put their finds away from them and put their hands up.  
"I can't kill all of you, I need someone to go back and tell your museum to never come here again." Angela looked at the first mans eyes and noticed that for a fraction of a second, he jerked them towards the side of her head. "I'll eat two of the five of you." The four standing men filled with fright. Angela turned her head and caught the one trying to sneak under her. Her tongue pulled him in her mouth and she spit out the artifacts he had. Then when nobody said anything, she swallowed. Angela shifted her body to make sure they couldn't see any part of it, then looked at the shaking young man in the corner and put on her nice face. "Come here sir," when he just closed his eyes, she angrily yelled it, "COME HERE!" The man walked quickly towards her to stop in front of her head and wait to be licked up. She merely put her nice face on again and talked to him like a child. "Look at me please," he obeyed, "If you pick up these things that the other ones had and put everything back, I'll let the four of you go home." Her extreme control of her outward emotions allowed her to cast aside her hatred for humans and respect the first mans bravery. They quickly did as she said, and as she had said, they were allowed to leave unharmed. While they walked down the steps and entered their vehicles, she was turned around and had her arms across her chest and her head lifted like she was angry at them. But she was really just hiding her red face and embarrassed body.  
After they were gone, she checked the rest of her temple like a clean freak. When everything was in order, she started on to the next one. Her last temple for today was her favorite of all of them, because it was underwater. It only took an hour through the dense forest to get to the beach and about twenty minutes to swim to the temple. When she reached the water, her stomach started to growl again. She just kept on and dove right in. Her original element was water, and she had spent a good portion of her life in it, which made her an expert swimmer. She could see the beginning of the temple as she passed the sunken ships that couldn't get by the lake's inhabitants.  
From far away, Angela's glistening scales resembled a school of small fish. Which attracted the attention of two mermaids, both with the same features, only one had blue eyes and the other, a light purple. One motioned to the other and they started to swim towards the food as it disappeared within an old temple.  
Angela swam through the hallways and chambers of her temple. In every room there were beautifully colored fish and small, equally beautiful plants that housed them. One plant had a few red stems with small tree-like green leaves that connected to a growth on the floor of the room that was the same red color as the stems. Small bright blue fish with silver lined sides swam around these plants. Other plants had what looked like long hair growing out of it, and each hair had a small silver shine at the end.  
She swam through a blue algae lit hallway, looking at all the intricate statues that resembled the human rulers at the time and one neko that governed a small city. She wondered how bad humans were at ruling and if she would ever accept them for what they are. The last room was the throne room, with gold lining that shone through the patches of glowing algae. She was still while she admired the carvings in the gold of mermaids and nagas as well as some other creatures of the forest. They told how the humans had once worshipped the odd creatures and the creatures respected them for it, until food became scarce and the creatures turned on the humans. The environment eventually balanced out and food became plentiful, but the relationship between human and the creatures was severed. Angela thought that it was useless to trust humans. They were always scheming and didn't care if they hurt the naga or destroyed their homes, but for a flash of a second, her mind said that maybe the humans don't care about them because they don't care about the humans. That, maybe if they stopped eating them and took the time to understand and make peace with them, then they wouldn't think so cruelly of each other, and maybe her human half will finally calm. Angela dismissed this thought with anger. How could the humans ever care about what they do to anyone! She screamed out a stream of bubbles and the water around her instantly heated and started to bubble furiously. She regained herself though, but everything was darker and every few seconds, her vision went fuzzy. Her face went back to its normal calmness; a different look came from her eyes. Her human side had taken over slightly, not enough to control her actions, but enough to ward off any pesky emotions. This didn't happen often, maybe once a year, and only lasted maybe twenty minutes, but it was devastating to anything around her. She was easily angered to the point that she could rip you in half from even the smallest offending word or action. Her outburst had cleared the room of any plants and the full beauty of the jewels and gold brought the room to life, but Angela just concentrated on getting out.  
The mermaids were outside arguing on who should go into this creepy temple. The purple eyed one lost and stuck her tongue out at the other while she slowly moved inside. The other mermaid girl peeked around the corner and watched until she couldn't see her sister. The purple eyed mermaid's small reflective spots now began to glow. She swam slowly through the halls looking at the creepy statues and wondering if this had been a good idea. She froze when she saw something move ahead of her. Was a small school of fish worth getting hurt over? She started to swim backwards, until a large hand shot out of the darkness and grabbed her around her mouth. She tried to scream but it only released small bubbles that rose from the captor's palm. The rest of Angela's figure came out and the water fluttered up her hair, allowing the mermaid to see her other blue-green eye, and the two large scars running down the height of her face. The scar closest to her nose was only about three times the height of the eye, the other started at her forehead and ended at the bottom of her jaw, and both went through her eye. The light coming from a small hole in the wall gave Angela a killer shadow and made her merciless eyes glow in the darkness. Angela stared into the frightened purple eyes of this mermaid, then started to swim forward, dragging her along.  
The other mermaid was still peeking around the corner. She could see the light from her sister's body and it made her glad that she wasn't hurt, but then a larger body was next to her and she realized that her sister was being held by something. She tried to run away from the entrance but was caught by the arm and dragged along in the water as well. They frantically tried to free themselves until they reached land. Angela pulled them up with her and immediately they started yelling in a language Angela did not understand. A better look at them and Angela realized that they had to be very young because their figure was not as developed as the other mermaids she remembered. They both had light blue skin and gills on the sides of their rib cage. She would have stopped to admire the delicate black markings on their belly, face, and back, had she not been as hungry. She brought the purple eyed one up to her open mouth but she put her hands on the sides and refused to be stuck in. Angela pulled her away and stared at them as they were now crying and saying things to each other. They started to itch their skin, and Angela remembered that this type of mermaid could not be out of the water for very long.  
She dunked them both in the water and they coughed at how sudden she had done it. She figured she'd try her luck with the other one, and was happy to see that this one just tucked her arms to her chest and yelled. The wet, slippery mermaid easily fit half her body inside Angela's mouth. Angela lifted her head up and tilted it back, allowing the mermaid to slide as far back as she would. The small girl opened her eyes and she could see down the throat while it opened and tightened, reacting to the touch of her hair. The purple eyed mermaid watched in horror as Angela sucked in and brought the rest of the body in until she closed her mouth around the end of the tail, stopping her from going down. Angela savored the odd taste of mermaid, while the girl was screaming halfway down her throat. The mermaid girl felt Angela swallow several times, making the muscular walls attempt to pull her down, which squeezed her enough to make her feel sick. The purple eyed mermaid started to yell in her language again until Angela finally swallowed the squirming creature. The purple eyed mermaid had a horribly sad face as she watched the bulge go down into Angela's waiting body.  
Angela had her eyes closed when she brought her head down. "I haven't been able to find a mermaid for so long," she opened her eyes and licked the water off her mouth, "I'd forgotten what it was like." The purple eyed mermaid started to whine and say something. Angela put on her nice face and talked in a sweet tone, "Now, are you gonna quit acting so childish so that we can get this over with. Don't worry, I'm won't play with you." Angela lowered her eyelids and leaned in, as if to give a kiss good night. Instantly the girl closed her eyes tightly and flung her arms up to stop the naga from getting any closer. Angela took this moment to put her mouth around the small arms. The mermaid opened her eyes and yelled, and then Angela grabbed the mermaid around the waist and lifted her into the air, with a firm grip on her arms. The mermaid could see a tongue emerging from the closed lips. Angela licked her face, and the mermaid could smell that the water from her sister was still on it. The mermaid and Angela's head were dunked into the water then quickly pulled out. Now she shoved the mermaid forward, barely opening her mouth, so that the body was in up to the waist. Angela's head was tilted back once again, and since this one was smaller then the other, she only had to be nudged slightly before she slid down her gullet. The mermaid slipped quickly into the stomach and ran into the other, making the second stomach open up. They both were itching their body, as the acids started to work fast on their soft skin. Angela bent over and drank mouth fulls of water so that they wouldn't dry out. Then she laid on her snake half, enjoying the heat that it soaked up, and the screaming and bumping of the mermaids. They punched at the walls, but Angela could only feel a light nudging and hear small shrieks through her muscular body. She smiled and wanted to fall asleep, but her human side never lets her sleep when she's calling the shots. Anger filled her, making her get up and start to leave.  
Angela was full now, but not as much as usual. She felt the mermaids moving along with what was left of the liquefied naga and partly digested dino, but she felt sick. She didn't feel a thing for the pain the poor creatures must be experiencing, not even a, "I hope it's not too painful for them". She didn't like it. She hated when Maia was in control of her emotions. She sat up and started the long trek back to her home and hoped that she would return to normal soon.  
A little into the trip, after there was no movement in her, all her emotions caught up and she felt terrible. She desperately wanted to let them out, but knew that they had been in there for too long and there was nothing she could do. She wanted to cry for them, but her cold body wouldn't let her. The old self cried in her mind as it longed to break out and help again. She despised not caring about others, she wanted to be herself, back when she would stop and help a hurt naga, human, or any other creature that was in need. She had a desire that her old self wished would come true, but whenever she was reminded about it, her new self became angry. Oh how her old self wished this would come true and break the hold Maia has on her. Alas, these thoughts were tossed away as if they were just another useless emotion when she saw a naga in the distance. At closer inspection, she realized that it was that red haired girl, moving very carefully with her brother next to her.  
Before the girl could turn to look her way, Angela was in front of her, kneeling down with her nice face. "Hi!" She closed her eyes happily.  
The girl shrunk back and covered her brother with her arms. "Angela please don't hurt us. Just let us get back home." Angela watched her cover her brother and she became very angry at this, but kept her welcome face.  
Before the girl could blink, Angela had both of them in her grasp. She lay on her stomach and had a concerned but playful face. "Awe, but why. If I eat you both right here, at least you won't be without each other." Angela pulled the girl closer to her face, and when she was close enough to feel the warmth of Angela's skin, the girl started to try and push the hand off her waist. Angela looked up and whispered, "Didn't you want your brother NOT to be alone. If I only eat you then your brother will be out here by himself." Angela released her grip on the boy, who just stayed where he was, being too young to understand the situation. The girl's tail was picked up and put in Angela's mouth.  
"No, wait!" The girl said and looked up at Angela in shock. Angela had a devilish look on her face when she started to suck in her tail. The girl turned to her brother and yelled, "Close your eyes and cover your ears! Now!" The boy did as he was told. Then the girl turned to Angela. "Please don't do this," She whispered, putting her hand on Angela's cheek, "I'll do anything you want, just tell me. Please, I want to live to take care of my brother." Angela just smiled slightly and narrowed her angry looking eye. As if planned, Angela took her hand off the girl when she burst into tears. Realizing that she had a slight chance to escape, the girl started to move quickly on her stomach towards her brother, only to be stopped harshly when her body was completely stretched out. She now felt how fast she was being pulled into the smiling mouth.  
Angela closed her eyes and swallowed, letting the muscles in her throat take over. The girl tried to dig her fingers into the ground to stop herself, but the soil proved to be too soft to grab and it was just pulled along with her. She closed her lips tightly and held back her screams so that she wouldn't scare her brother. Looking back, she felt sick seeing that Angela took pleasure from the horrible death the girl would soon experience. "Please! No!" she pleaded, still not loud enough for her brother to hear her. She was crying and dragging her hands through the loose soil, and yet she continued to hold back her need to scream for help. She closed her fists around the dirt but it was no use when her stomach was pulled past wet lips. She was taking her last look at her brother when her chin hit Angela's slimy tongue. Lips and teeth closed around her arms, and the tongue squeezed her hard against the roof of the mouth, stopping her movement. The girl couldn't hold it anymore and she let out a loud scream, then passed out.  
Angela gently grabbed the small arms sticking out of her mouth and began to pull. The unconscious girl started to come out, dripping with saliva. Angela pulled on the girl that was slowly sliding back up her throat and when the she was all the way out; Angela laid her down gently, looked at the girls little brother, and smiled.  
The girl could feel herself waking up, but she didn't open her eyes. She moved her outstretched hands over the ground. It felt furry. So this is what the inside of a stomach feels like? It's nowhere near what I had imagined, she thought. Oh, I hope she didn't get my little brother. She closed her hand and picked up some of . . . the crumbly stomach? Her eyes opened slowly and she could see the retreating sunlight that swayed with the trees above. She got up and saw Angela resting against a large tree base with her eyes closed and her arms across her chest. The girl looked around with a panic and then noticed the small smile on Angela's face. She moved her sore muscles as fast as she could towards the giant. When she climbed up onto her belly, she put her ear against the soft skin. "Erik honey, can you hear me?" When there were no sounds, her eyes started to tear up. She got up quickly and slammed her hands on the stomach. "How could you!"  
Angela's smile faded and she slowly opened her visible eye. "How could I what?"  
"He was all I had. How could you take him away like that?" The girl was crying heavily now. After crying in her hands for a few moments, she looked up at Angela. "Eat me. Eat me, please."  
Angela looked the sad girl in the eyes and said, "No." Her tone was so flat and uncaring that it made the small girl shudder in fear.  
The girl then slowly started to pull her body up the hill of skin. "I took care of him by my self his whole life, I can't live without him. I'll make you eat me if I have to." The girls hurting forearms made her release little moans of pain while she climbed. Angela waited till she got up to her folded arms, and then lifted the top one slightly. There, curled across her other arm, sleeping soundly, was the little brother. The girl instantly put her head against his and hugged him. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you," she said then looked up at Angela, "Why?"  
"I told you before that I wouldn't eat you, and when I saw you again, you acted like I was some monster. There's nothing I hate more then someone who doesn't trust me. When I say something, I mean it." Angela took her free hand and wiped the girls tear filled face with her thumb.  
"I'm sorry. It won't happen again," the girl said, her heart still racing. She again wished she could thank the poor naga that had been eaten, because that one had saved her twice and now her brother as well.  
"All I want is for people to trust me," she looked down, "I want someone to care about me. But when they see me, they automatically think I'm just going to eat them." Angela picked up the girl and laid her in her arm with her brother. "I guess my reputation doesn't help any, and it's not like I'm gonna suddenly stop eating others. But even if I am going to eat you, I try to make it as easy as I can. I mean, I talk nice to you and I'm as gentle as I can possibly be, I just don't get it. Maybe it's just the thought of digesting that gets to them." Angela was fixing the girls hair. She smiled, trying to forget her troubles, and said with a nice voice, "You'll be an excellent mother some day. What's your name?"  
"My," she inhaled heavily. "My name is Mari." She wiped new tears from her face.  
"Great!" Angela rubbed under the girls chin. "Mari, please, if I ever catch you again and try to eat you, just tell me your name and I'll remember," She smiled, "But you'll probably have to scream it because I won't be paying much attention. Oh, and trust me when I say these things, it's kind of a matter of life and death." She wished that she could sleep right there and protect them through the night, but she didn't like sleeping away from the comfort of her cave. After about an hour, Angela woke up both of them and told them that she needed to leave.  
Angela got home and lay down. Her stomach wasn't complaining, though she didn't eat nearly the usual, but she had the satisfaction of a good day of work. She lay there and thought about If Mari made it okay and thought that if she should have followed her home since it was dark. She still felt awake, so she kept herself occupied by cleaning, singing, drawing on the walls, or carving bowls and small figures out of wood. After a while she would fall asleep on her bed of leaves and various animal hairs. She had her usual nightmare, just waiting for the morning to wake her and start her daily routine over again.


	2. Chapter 2

Angela turned in her sleep. Her eyes twitched from a dream that haunted her. "Ebony, no, I'm sorry. Please, get up," her head jerked to the side, "I don't want to be alone." She let out a quiet yell of pain at the thoughts, then her hands flew to her head and she sprang up. Sweat began to build on her as she stared into the dark jungle. She slowly pulled her hand to feel the scars across her eye, and when she felt they were there, her body sunk sadly. Sure she was relieved that everything she saw wasn't happening, but it destroyed her knowing that it had happened already.

A neko that was sleeping on her snake half watched her, and he patted her scales gently. "What's wrong Angela?" he said, not taking his eyes off the back of her head.

She didn't even turn around, she just stared down into the dirt and whispered, "Nothing."

He looked at her with concern and then turned to the other twenty four shining eyes of the neko that were woken up by her mumbling. The other seven neko, five humans, and one young naga somehow slept soundly. The first neko looked back to her shape in the dark, "It's not nothing, what hap -"

"Please," Angela cut in, still sadly quiet, "Just go back to sleep." She heard him sigh and lay back down into his sleeping bag, along with the others that were awake.

The darkness looked so inviting. To be consumed by the blank surroundings would be great, more than great, a wonderful escape from herself. From everything. She would be able to forget all the terrible events and the things she had done. She thought that just as the darkness, another true friend could cover the pain, but the feeling of replacing her best friend was just too much for her to take. In a deep sigh, she leaned against the cave wall beside her, and let herself be taken by sleep once more.

********************

When she opened her eyes, she was still leaning against her wall. She looked behind and there was no one resting on her anymore, so she rubbed her sore shoulder and turned towards the opening to her cave. The darkness wasn't there anymore, only the bright green and brown of the jungle. It somewhat cheered her up knowing that the day was new, but most happy thoughts were crushed with the knowledge that she was still herself.

Her dream before she woke this time was of her best friend and her playful attitude, instead of her horrible death. Angela thought that today she was reminded heavily because it was the exact day that everything had happened. Even now, she still felt the weight of what she had done leaning over her shoulders and keeping her down. It wouldn't be right unless she paid her respects.

Angela started the long trip by wiping her face from sleep and slithering out onto the damp dirt. She was hungry, but food was the last thing on her mind. She hardly even looked down while she passed a few humans, trying to pack everything they could before they were noticed. Usually she would pick them up before they even had a chance to run, but this time she only watched while they quickly shut their truck doors and drove away.

She passed by one of her favorite ruins on the way. It was a large tower that once housed someone who was said to be a powerful wizard, but now it only slowly crumbled under the weight of its own majesty. The bottom was indeed sturdy enough to support the entire structure for its old age, being a cylinder of two meter thick stone walls, and having an internal metal skeleton that equaled the mechanical brilliance of a giant human tank. Though its structural mistake was that the top half of the home was made of wood, because it was far cheaper then stone at the time, and the nature in it absorbed magic even more then the walls that were designed to do so. This was beginning to weaken, and the large metal roof would most likely take the entire lower half with it when it fell.

Angela hoped that she wouldn't have a hand inside when it toppled, though she hardly ever inspected the building too long, since all the openings were made small, even for the wizard. He apparently thought that it would protect him even more if enemies couldn't get in, though he must not have been the brightest human, because he was taken when monsters burrowed through the wood of the upper half. Humans are so flawed, she thought, remembering how they build cities even in this predator infested jungle. When will they ever learn, was the only thing she thought after that, but countered that with the realization that they have lived here far before she was even born. They must have some secret, like an underground city where they retreat to, or something in the sky that predators couldn't reach.

She hadn't been paying attention to where she was going and slithered straight off of a semi-deep drop, into a large hole of muddy water. She pushed herself up with her arms and wrapped the part of her snake half that was still on solid ground around a large tree. While she pulled herself back to the top of the rocky edge, she brushed the mud from her eyes and arms the best she could. When she could see clearly, she made motions across her body that looked like she was trying to wipe it, but didn't want to touch the mud. Suddenly the dirt started to follow her hand, leaving clean skin underneath. Whenever the clump of mud got too big, she would pull her hand away from her body and it would separate and fall to the jungle floor.

Again, she didn't mind where she headed, though this time she didn't wander into anything unpleasant, but the next section she would have to cross in order to get to where she wanted. She was completely clean, but would have to rub against the moss covered trees to get across "The Drop". It was a place where the ground ended and the tree roots grew over the unexpected open space, cascading like they were water. Angela looked down, and all she could see was the darkness lightly patted with white fog.

Out of the rolling white fluff came strange trees of a height that could not be determined, due to the unknown depth of the hole, and the dense and giant leaves that covered the top about two hundred feet above Angela, that didn't even allow an estimate to the height above the leaves. Green light escaped the covering and drenched everything in an odd looking blanket of the hue, and it glittered through the small raindrops that fell around the insignificant looking naga. Angela started off by reached out and grabbing one of the thousands of vines that seemed to connect each tree. It was cold and slimy, just as she had expected.

In the five year period it took her to build enough courage to come back, this place had not changed a bit. Angela would not be able wrap her body around the trees for grip, she couldn't even completely encircle one of them, but the odd surface of them helped her as she started to pull the rest of her body to slither through the strange  
trees. The bark of them looked as though snakes had once writhed under it, then froze suddenly, leaving ridges of moist wood covered in slippery algae. One slip of her coils could send the remainder of her body tumbling through what looked like a never ending hole. Despite the danger, it was easier this way then to go around it. The diameter of the hole could easily reach ten miles across, but it was immeasurable, and not even humans had tried.

According to how the walls looked, one could determine that it bowled in the middle, leaving Angela to think that it is a giant crater. Though the thing that puzzled her was that from what she knew, it had the shape of a crescent. She theorized that a large rock had hit the side of a mountain and the loose dirt fell and filled most of the hole. Thoughts like this didn't come to her anymore, they are just remnants of the knowledge she gained from research when she was her old self. Now, such things were a nuisance that should be removed to make life easier, and as she moved through the thick vines and statue-like trees, she thought of how horrible they were for getting in her way.

Her natural serpent movements caused her to blend in with the surrounding, and she was further camouflaged by the algae and small insects that built on her body. Occasionally she would look down into the space under her to see a few birds flying, or human sized monkeys jumping from vine to vine. She wondered if it was an entirely different life down there, and that those creatures must be alien to her, but she would never go and see from the fact that there was no way back up and no clear way to even get down.

Angela looked up and grabbed a vine like she had done it a thousand times, but her grip was weakened by the molding plants over it, and she slipped. Her eyes widened and she screamed, knowing that even with her amazing healing ability, she couldn't keep herself from splattering across whatever was at the bottom. Though in that moment, it made her think about why she was really screaming. She thought that she wouldn't be leaving anybody alone, that probably no naga native to this land would miss her, and that she screamed only for someone to save her so that she could continue this life of regret and regular checking of the memories she wanted to desperately let go of. It seemed like an eternity that she was alone with these thoughts, and not falling through air that couldn't catch her.

She felt a sudden jerk, and everything returned to her. She was shaking, and her breathing was heavy, and she couldn't figure out why. The things she realized didn't seem so important that she would jump back to them in fear, but, she had saved herself regardless. A look around showed that her body was tightly wrapped around a vine and her arm clutched a smaller one for dear life. She waited for her body to calm before reaching forward and grabbing the next branch with a hand as trained as before.

And for about the next two hours, she slid through the trees, not even making one slight mistake. She turned her body around and stretched it to the land once it came into view, and once it was firmly wrapped around a tree stump, she began to slowly pull the upper half of her body from the trees. Finally she was free of the tangles and on solid ground, her second favorite thing about this moon. Her stomach growled loudly, but she ignored it and slithered forward. A little into her trip, she came across a small village, most likely human.

She decided to think about food then, but first looked around the village for the tallest building, and when she found it she eyed the purple coin-like plate of wood that was attached to a metal pole. Angela knew this meant they were grouped with a naga, and that she could not eat any of them without first asking. Of course she could storm through it and take whatever she wanted with almost no objections from naga or humans, but she didn't even feel like dealing with an angry naga. She simply passed it while some of the humans looked out their window or watched from the street, hoping that she knew what the sign meant.

When she was clear of the village, she looked around lazily till she found a small hole in the ground, then she put her hand over it and closed her eyes. The world was now black as space to her, and the only life was the colorful outlines of anything living. She quickly made everything around her disappear and only focused on the colors that were right under her hand. She saw two moving shapes, like they were trying to dig deeper to get away from the thing covering their entrance. Though Angela hadn't used this ability for a long time, she focused all of her energy to the palm of her hand. The gravity around her hand began to change to pull towards where she concentrated, and after a few seconds, the two figures were lifted like they were attached to invisible strings, then caught.

Angela opened her eyes and immediately the gravity returned to normal and the dirt she had picked up fell to the ground. She lifted her hand and saw that she had caught two burrowing dridders. They hugged each other and stared at her with wide eyes. Angela licked her lips to wet them, and this made them start screaming.

One of them took one hand from the other and started to try and push her way out. When she realized it was useless, she looked up at Angela, "Wait naga! Don't eat us!"

Angela was amazed that they were most likely twins, since she had never seen that in person. "Just," she began calmly, "sit still and it won't be so bad."

The one that had already spoken covered the other, trying to save her."No! Don't!" Angela took her other hand and separated them, then brought the quiet one to her mouth and extended her tongue. "Naga, please!"

The dridder had her eyes closed tightly but screamed when she felt the wet tongue pressed against her belly. Angela took one finger and stuffed the rest inside, then began to lick the frightened girl till she was completely covered in saliva. Angela looked down at the other and swallowed, then tried not to giggle while the spider body tickled her throat. She was able to keep a straight face, but softened her expression when she saw the mixture of shock and sadness on the dridder. She was staring at Angela's neck, maybe to see if the other dridder would crawl back up or something.

Angela reached over and used her thumb to wipe away the tears that began to fall down the dridder's face. "See, it's not as bad as you think," Angela said, "It'll be over in a few minutes."

The dridder looked up and breathed a few times to get out her fear, then her face turned to hatred for the naga. "What makes you think," she took a shaky breath in, "that you can tell us that we won't die badly. What kind of monster looks into its prey's eyes and tells them that it'll only take a few minutes for them to die?"

Angela looked away, obviously struck by this statement. She closed her eyes and hummed a short breath, like she had been lightly hit, then turned back to the dridder. "I don't care whether you like it or not. A warning like that is rare for a predator to say. Now please, just sit still."

As asked, the dridder was still and quiet while she was stuck inside the large mouth and finished. Angela put her hand on her stomach after gulping a few more times to clear her mouth. She wondered why the second one went so easily, maybe the thought that she'll be with the other, or a relief from the thought that she won't be the same without the other, Angela will never know now. She felt slightly bad for them when she burped, but shrugged it off and continued forward.

She quickened her pace once she saw a large cave in the distance. Her face was odd once she came to it, like it was trying to show intense happyness, despair, and excitement at the same time. Finally her face was once again the straight and bored one. She ducked down and moved inside, looking at everything that was still in its place after little more than thirty years. There was the metal framed bed, now covered in rust and sunk in the middle of a barely recognizable feather mattress. A desk still held the near completely rotted money bag, still with a few cheap coins in it, though somebody had came in and taken the higher priced ones. Angela wished that she could find the one who did it, and teach them a harsh lesson, but they were probably long gone now, and the coins are probably already circulating.

She went to the back of the room and slowly wiped her hand across the rusted frame to an oval mirror. It still haunts her knowing that Ebony fixed Angela's hair in this a few days before she died. Angela looked down away from her reflection, then became angry and thrust her hand behind her. She had taken some roots from the nearby trees and bound a naga that tried to run when he saw her.

Angela turned quickly and brought her hand slowly to his throat, and root ends followed, their tips shedding wood to reveal razor sharp ends. She looked down at his blue-green eyes and yelled, "Was it you that stole those coins from that bag! Tell me or I'll puncture your windpipe!"

"Wait, wait!" he screamed, "It wasn't me, I swear!"

"Then who was it!"

"It was one of my friends! He said he found them and told me that there were more! He didn't sell them yet!"

"Well you tell him that if they aren't on that desk by the time I come back, I'll hang both of your heads over the cave to warn anybody else!"

"I got it, I got it! What's so important about them! They're old, they can't be spent! Are you after what they would sell for!?"

Angela growled and huffed a puff of fire, then lifted her hand and grabbed the part of hair over her face, tucking it behind her ear to show her face. "I want them back," she said, like she would kill him right here for just thinking about taking the rest.

All the color that was left in his face retreated at that moment. "A-Angela, what are you, doing here? Please, don't kill me! I'll do whatever you want!"

"Go!" she yelled, closing her hand and taking the roots back into the ground. The moment he regained his direction, he was gone faster than anything Angela had seen in a long time. So, she sighed and went back to normal. They were lucky she was in control now. Maybe five years earlier and she would've ripped his head off and hunted his friend to do the same to him.

She started off to the left of Ebony's cave. On the way, she passed the path that led to the naga market, but stopped to look at the tree that they used to climb when they were younger. It was weird for her to think that she used to climb on it and play body tag, and it was now only a little taller than she was. She lay down and traced the path they would run with her finger. She took her hand back when she came to the hole that was the "safe" spot, still with the gate of fabric that Ebony had woven, and the clicking device she made to count how long each was safe.

There was even the small carving that Angela had done of her and Ebony playing. Though the colors were faded to nothing, Ebony liked it so much, that she took a few markers to it at the time, saying it'll look even prettier. Angela wished that the candy they hid was still in there, it would've helped her mood immensely. After taking a deep breath, she got back up and began moving once more.

After about an hour, she came to an opening in the forest, with the remains of buildings covered in plants and a large part cleared of any tall vegetation. Angela slowly made her way to that part and leaned over it carefully. It was a patch of short vines over dirt, with barely noticeable white lumps in random places. But, the thing that stood out most was the golden necklace that had been laid over a small piece of wood. Angela knelt down and gently picked up the heart shape as far as it could go, since most of the chain was buried under the dirt.

There was some rust on it, but other than that, the gold and small crystals shone like new. Angela heated her finger and ran it across to kill any tiny bugs that crept in the small spaces. Then she reached back and unhooked a near invisible bag attached to one of her scales, then took out some things and began to polish the necklace. When she was done, she threw the bag into the bushes and set the necklace back on the wood block. She felt the huge weight began to lift, even though Ebony's bones were sitting underground just in front of her.

Angela bent over, put her hand above the necklace, and wiped slightly. She thrust her hand back and shivered when she felt something. When she finally looked down, there were four naga teeth showing from the ground, and only a small part of an upper jaw was visible. Angela wanted to thrust her hands in the ground and hold Ebony's head to hers like she used to do when either of them was sad, but it wasn't Ebony anymore, just a skull and a long pile of dried bones buried in the ground. Angela breathed sadly and waved her hand in the air, making the plants cover the exposed skeleton. This is the only reason Angela was happy that the people of this area viewed her as close to a demon, because they wouldn't dare go near this "cursed" land, thus giving Ebony and Angela's necklace a peaceful rest.


End file.
